The volume of trade between Ukraine and Russia has dropped by nearly 84% over the past six years, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a joint press conference with European Commission Vice-President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight Maros Sefcovic in Kyiv.
“In fact, the volume of annual trade from Russia has dropped over the past six years by nearly 84%, from $37 billion to $7 billion. Trade turnover between Russia and Ukraine is gradually declining. At the same time, the volume of trade [between Ukraine and] Europe has grown to over 40%, which means it has grown by more than fivefold. The replacement of markets is underway, and Ukraine is learning to manufacture goods of higher quality, in line with European standards, which meets the course of our development,” Shmyhal said, when asked by Interfax-Ukraine what share of Ukrainian exports has been affected by Russia’s recently-introduced ban on imports of certain products from Ukraine and how the Ukrainian government would respond to it.
Shmyhal insisted that he was talking not about “trade wars” but about the Ukrainian market’s natural reorientation toward the European and other markets.
As was reported earlier, the Russian government extended a list of products that cannot be imported from Ukraine on June 28, 2021.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 13/07/21
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of July 13
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal says the complex development of critical materials can attract up to EUR 10 billion to Ukraine in the first period.
“Ukraine creates conditions for attracting investors. The current rules of access to subsoil correspond to modern practices of developed countries of the world, organizing auctions on an open competitive basis for the sale of special permits and licenses,” he said at the conference on Strategic Partnership between the European Union and Ukraine on Critical Raw Materials and Batteries in Kyiv on Tuesday.
According to the prime minister, involving foreign technologies and investments requires international participation.
“The integrated development of such critical materials can attract significant investments to Ukraine. Already in the first period, EUR 10 billion can be invested in this area,” Shmyhal said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its July report has improved the forecast for the production and export of Ukrainian wheat in the 2021/2022 marketing year (MY, July-June) by 500,000 tonnes compared to the forecast in June, to 30 million tonnes and 21 million tonnes, respectively.
In July, the USDA kept its forecast for corn exports from Ukraine in the 2021/2022 MY at 30.5 million tonnes, harvest – at 37.5 million tonnes.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture also predicts an increase in world grain trade in the 2021/2022 MY by 800,000 tonnes to a record 204 million tonnes due to increased exports from the EU, Ukraine and Australia, while Canada, Kazakhstan and the United States will reduce exports of this crop.
The bill on legalization of medical cannabis provides for its removal from the list of narcotic substances and transfer it to the register of strictly controlled drugs, head of the parliamentary committee on public health Mykhailo Radutsky (Servant of the People faction).
“We are removing medical cannabis from the list of drugs, and this is not our invention. The UN did it many years ago. Cannabis is not a drug anywhere in the world, but only in countries like Russia, Belarus, Venezuela and, unfortunately, Ukraine. I hope that the parliament will correct this story,” Radutsky said at a briefing after the faction’s meeting on Monday evening in Kyiv.
The head of the committee said that only a doctor will prescribe an electronic prescription for a patient to purchase cannabis.
He reported that the Verkhovna Rada plans to consider at the first reading a bill on the legalization of medical cannabis on Tuesday and expressed hope that MPs will primarily think about patients and not about political dividends during the vote. According to the MP, after the adoption of the bill at the first reading, the MPs will have enough time to prepare the document for the second reading.
“I think that the law should be passed at the first reading, and there will be time until autumn to correct it before the second reading, we are not saints at the committee as well, we could miss something,” Radutsky said.
